


A Snowball Tumbling Down a Cliff

by artimus13



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Betrayal, Fluff, It Gets Worse, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rivalry, Self-Indulgent, seriously it only gets worse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 20:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artimus13/pseuds/artimus13
Summary: Akechi paused which only made Akira internally panic more than he already was. He still hadn’t pieced together what Akechi wanted to ask him, and Akchi looked like he didn’t quite know himself, the other seemed to be thinking carefully about the next words that he was about to say.“What would you say if I asked you to abandon your friends and join with me instead?”Akira couldn’t help the surprised gasp that escaped from him.Akechi didn’t elaborate; he simply left Akira to mull over the offer by himself.orAkira leaves his team to join with Akechi, and it only goes downhill from there.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	A Snowball Tumbling Down a Cliff

**Author's Note:**

> Tags, ratings, and warnings will update with the fic, so always make sure to give them a look over just as a safety precaution because hoo boy do I have things planned. 
> 
> That being said this first chapter is very tame (dare I say soft??), so nothing really to worry about here

It was a cold night in Kichijoji. 

Thankfully, Akira was inside Penguin Sniper playing billiards with Akechi, and Akechi was (as per usual) winning. 

“It’s practically my game at this point,” Akechi said as Akria was lining up his shot, “You better concentrate now, or else I’ll win with my next shot.”

Akira took his advice and focused in on how he wanted to direct the ball. He took a breath in as he took the shot, and he actually managed to sink one of the balls into the pocket he intended. 

“Not bad,” Akechi taunted as he was trying to concentrate on his next shot, “but can you keep it up?”

He didn’t speak as he focused on making the rest of his shots. It probably took Akira longer than it normally would have to make all of the shots, but with enough concentration and precision, he managed to sink the 8-ball to win the game. 

He heard Akechi let out a small gasp of surprise before Akira turned back to see the detective prince wearing his signature smile. 

“I suppose that’s your win,” Akria could hear the bitterness that Akechi was trying to hide behind the sweetness in his voice, “Now that you’ve finally beaten me with my self imposed handicap, it’s time I go all out against you.”

Akira could feel the excitement rising in him at the idea of Akechi finally not holding back anymore, but shame quickly followed the feeling. 

He shouldn’t be getting excited about playing billiards with the person that he knows is going to try and kill him by the end of the month, but for some reason, Akira got a warm feeling all throughout his body every time he saw one of Akechi’s text asking him hang out or have one of their ‘duels’ as Akechi liked to call them. 

If Akira could somehow change Akechi’s mind about truly joining the thieves, he would do anything to try and change Akechi’s mind to try and get him on his side. 

Even if Akira could just change Akechi’s mind about not killing him, he would do it.

It wasn’t that Akira didn’t have faith in his friend’s plan, but that didn’t mean he didn’t see the flaws in it. The plan they came up with required timing that would require a miracle to pull off, and what if Akechi had realised he had entered the Metaverse after they had somehow got him in. For all they knew, Akechi had been out of the Metaverse for at least two years, so it wasn’t that far of a stretch in Akira’s mind to think that Akechi would know when he had entered the Metaverse even if he himself didn’t activate the app. 

Akira didn’t even know if he would be able to hand his phone off to Sae. He knew the interrogation would be harsh, he had been in police custody before, but he was positive that now that he was being interrogated as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, they would use any means to get a confession out of him. With all of that against him, he was doubting his own ability to convince Makoto’s sister to take his phone. 

Akira was willing to put his life on the line every time they went into the Metaverse to infiltrate a Palace or explore Mementos, but now that his (hopefully preventable) death was staring him straight in the face, he didn’t think he should feel that bad about feeling nervous about the plan that his friends came up without even really asking for much of his consent. All it took was a simple “Yeah” from Akira for the rest of his team to put their full faith into the plan. 

‘ _Let’s see one of them try to do it_ ,’ Akira thought bitterly. 

“Kurusu-kun?” Akechi spoke up after not speaking for a bit, “Are you alright, you’ve been zoned out for quite awhile. How about we go to the Jazz Jin for a drink; my treat for you beating me.”

“I thought my reward was you going all out on me?”

Akechi gave a light laugh, “Call this a bonus reward, but I suppose I do have something else I would like to discuss with you, so I guess it’s more for me than it is for you.”

“Alright then, lead the way.”

They made the short walk to the Jazz Jiz in silence while Akira was left to wonder what Akechi wanted to talk to him about. He hadn’t come to a conclusion once before they had sat down and ordered their drinks. 

The waiter gave them their drinks, and shortly after, the singer started her performance. Akechi closed his eyes to listen to the music, and Akira took the moment to look at Akechi in a rare state where the other was relaxed. It was nice, and it made Akira feel odd things that he didn’t want to examine too closely right now. It felt different seeing him like this knowing that Akechi was planning to kill him in a few days time.

He kept observing Akechi for the duration of the song, and when it ended, he gracefully looked away before Akechi could catch him staring.

“That was lovely, don’t you think?” Akechi said, turning his attention to Akira, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get side tracked. About what I wanted to ask you…” 

Akechi paused which only made Akira internally panic more than he already was. He still hadn’t pieced together what Akechi wanted to ask him, and Akchi looked like he didn’t quite know himself, the other seemed to be thinking carefully about the next words that he was about to say. 

Finally, after what felt like an unbearably long pause, Akechi spoke up again. 

“What would you say if I asked you to abandon your friends and join with me instead?”

Akira couldn’t help the surprised gasp that escaped from him. 

Akechi didn’t elaborate; he simply left Akira to mull over the offer by himself. 

Akira’s first thought was: how could somebody simply come out and say something like that, but then he remembered he was talking with Akechi, and he is a little less surprised. Still, Akechi’s offer was certainly...odd? (Akira didn’t know how else to describe it).

He always saw him and Akechi as rivals (or perhaps something more if Akira was allowing himself to be hopeful), and he knows Akechi always saw their relationship that way as well, so it doesn’t make sense to Akira why he would suddenly want to change their dynamic so drastically. It wasn’t that they didn’t make a good team (Akira is positive that the two of them could breeze through Sae’s palace by themselves), but it was more the issue of they weren’t a real team. Akechi was still blackmailing them, and Akira still competed with him even in the middle of battle. 

It takes Akira a bit to realize that this could also be Akechi giving him an out. Akechi could be giving him away of escaping his own death if Akira decided to join with Akechi, and Akira also realizes that it’s the opportunity that he’s been looking for. 

Just because he joins with Akechi now doesn’t mean Akira has to stay with him. All Akira has to do is make sure Akechi won’t kill him or anyone else and then... have him join back with the Thieves along with Akira (Akira hasn’t thought that far ahead yet, but he’s sure he’ll come up with a better plan along the way).

Like Akechi had done earlier, Akira carefully considered his next words before he spoke them. 

“S-Sure,” even after all his time of thinking over his words, Akira’s voice still came out shaky, “I’ll join up with you.”

Akechi looked surprised for a second before the look quickly turned into something that Akira could only best describe as victory. It made Akira second guess his already questionable decision, but Akechi spoke up before Akira could begin to backpedal the conversation and call his answer a bad joke. 

“You’re serious aren’t you?” Akechi asked, and it didn’t sound like a question to Akira, but more like Akechi was amused with what Akira had just said and agreed to, “You’re seriously willing to throw all of what you’ve worked for away just to work with me?”

Well, it wasn’t so much that he was throwing it all away, he was just using this as a way to avoid his death in (what he thought was) a much safer way than what his friends had come up with. He wasn’t abandoning them, he would just have to leave them for a while.

“Yeah, they always, um, pushed me to do things I didn’t completely agree to, but I feel like things will be different with you,” he told a half truth, he knew Akechi would see through a blatant lie, but that still didn’t stop Akechi from looking at Akira with a look in his eyes that was challenging Akira to lie to him, “We’re equals, or at least I’ve always seen us as equals, so that means as a team we could share the other’s problems and not just put them all on one person, right?”

Something shifted in Akechi’s expression, and Akira saw his expression change into a thoughtful one.

“Yes,” Akechi spoke after a few moments of silence, “...that seems fair, however, aren’t you curious about what I want your cooperation for?”

Right, Akira hadn’t even considered Akechi’s deal beyond giving Akira a way to avoid his death. Of course Akechi had his own motives as well. 

“Ah, well…” Akira trailed off a bit embarrassed at not having fully realized the extent that he might need to cooperate with Akechi.

“It’s okay,” Akechi said waving his hand in dismissal of Akira's lack of foresight, “there’s actually a lot I have to...explain to you anyways.” 

That made sense; Akechi didn’t know that Akira knew that he was planning on killing Akira in a couple days, so he’s sure that Akechi is going to bring that up, but Akira didn’t know how transparent Akechi was going to be with him now that they were ‘working together’. He’s sure that Akechi will only give him some half truths or just flat out tell him nothing about certain things, but it was better than the lack of information that Akira was getting right now.

“But,” Akechi continued on from where he had previously stopped talking, “this isn’t the time or place to explain all of that to you.”

Time for Akira to push the boundaries of their newfound partnership.

“How about we have a sleepover, and then you can explain it all to me, plus, I have a few things I need to tell you too.

Akechi looked at Akira like Akira was an idiot, which probably wasn’t a terribly inaccurate description of Akira based on the last few major choices he had made. 

“I’m not opposed to the idea,” Akechi said as he shifted his posture so that his arms were now crossed as he spoke, “but we certainly can’t have it at LeBlanc.”

Akira rolled his eyes, “I can just come over to your place.”

“Ah, right… I suppose you can come to my apartment for the night.”

“Why are you so secretive about your living conditions, detective? Maybe you should start by explaining that to me.”

Akechi seemed to be caught off guard because of the sudden teasing coming from Akira, and Akira felt a small amount of pride swell up in him at visibley off-setting Akechi for once.

“N-No it’s not that I’m necessarily secretive about it,” Akechi stuttered out still trying his best to recover, “It’s just that I’ve never had anyone over to my apartment before, and now that we’re cooperating, and you have higher expectations of me, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Hey don’t worry about that,” Akira said trying to make sure Akechi didn’t get the wrong idea about their deal, “I won’t rely on you for everything, sure I’ll rely on you for somethings, and you’ll rely on me for others, but just think of this as... us hanging out as friends.”

He must have caught the other boy wrong footed again because Akechi has a hopeful expression on his face that Akira has never seen before. It makes Akira’s stomach feel like it’s fluttering, and Akira can’t decide if he loves or hates the feeling.

Akira was so screwed. He was screwed the moment he decided joining with Akechi was his best option.

“Well, I’m not sure friends is the best word to describe us,” Akechi spoke up after moments of palpable silence between the two of them, “but if it’s the word you want to use to describe, then I guess I can’t stop you.” 

Oh Akira was so terribly screwed. 

“G-Great,” Akira tries his best to recover from his momentary mental slip up, “should we get going then; it seems like we have a lot to talk about, and it is getting kind of late.”

“Shouldn’t you inform your cat about this?”

Akira opens his mouth to defend Morgana’s pride of totally not being a cat, but then he thinks better of himself and replaces it with, “Yeah, I guess I should, Mona should still be wandering the streets; I’ll find him and tell him I’m spending the night with you.”

“I’ll come with you then,” Akechi said as he started to move to get up from his chair, and Akira followed as they both walked up the steps that led out of the Jazz Jin. 

It didn’t take long to find Morgana, and they both walked towards the cat once they saw him sitting in front of Penguin Sniper.

“I thought you guys were playing billiards!” is the first thing that Morgana says to the both of them once the cat finally notices them.

“Sorry,” Akira apologizes for the both of them, “I changed our plans, and Akechi and I wound up taking in the Jazz Jin.”

“Well that’s alright I guess,” Morgana said as he started to trot over to Akira, “Ready to call it a night and head home?”

“Actually,” Akechi said, now being the one to speak up for the both of them, “our conversation was so enticing that he’s decided to come over to my place so that we can continue it.”

“What!” Morgana seemed very shocked and appalled by what Akechi had just said, “Akira, is this true?”

“Of course it’s true Mona,” it wasn’t true, both Akechi and Akira knew this, but they also both knew that now was not the time to tell Morgana that Akira had betrayed him and the rest of the Phantom Thieves in favor of joining with Akechi. They were all still technically one big team for the time being, but Akira knew that that was all going to drastically change in a few days' time.

“Are you sure it’s okay for you to be doing this Joker?” Morgana again expressed his suspicion and worry about Akira spending the night at Akechi’s apartment, which made sense, but Akira also felt a small shred of betrayal (how ironic was that) that Morgana didn’t trust him enough to believe that Akira knew what he was doing.

Yeah, Akira knew what he was doing; he would be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Not what I was planing on posting after so long, but hey at least it’s something, and I’ve honestly wanted to write this idea for so long (literally since I saw rank 7), so to finally do it is nice :)


End file.
